Vehicle running-gear.



0.SHEAPPER. VEHICLE RUNNING GEAR.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 9, 1910.

Patented s t. 10,1912.

wry! 6072/;

' Attorneys UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVER SHEAFFER, OF MANITOU, OKLAHOMA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 CHAS. D. KIRKPATRICK, OF MANITOU, OKLAHOMA.

VEHICLE RUNNING-GEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 9, 1910.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLIVER SHEAFEER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Manitou, in the county of Tillman and State of Oklahoma, have invented a new and useful Vehicle Running-Gear, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object of the present invention to provide, in vehicle running gear, an improved form of coupling between the front end of the reach and the front axle, the primary object being to obviate the engagement, through the front axle, of the coupling pin usually employed in connecting the axle and the front end of the reach. The engagement of a coupling pin through the front axle and sand board, as ordinarily done for the purpose of connecting the reach thereto, weakens the front axle materially and the present invention aims therefore to provide for coupling of the reach to the front axle without weakening the said axle.

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure 1 is a top plan View of a front axle and reach and the related parts, the reach being shown as coupled to the axle by the means embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken from front to rear on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the members of the coupling embodying the present invention.

In the accompanying drawings, the numeral 5 indicates the front axle of the running gear here illustrated, 6 the usual sand board, 7 the bolster held for turning movement upon the sand board by the usual pin 8, and 9 the front hounds of the gear which hounds are secured between the axle 5 and the sand board 6 in the usual manner. Also, in the drawings there is shown an ordinary reach indicated by the numeral 10.

The coupling embodying the present invent-ion consists of two members of counterpart structure, one of these members being clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. As illustrated, each member comprises a flat plate like body 11 formed at its forward edge with a flange 12 projecting at right angles from one face of the body. At its rear edge, the body 11 of each member is formed with a comparatively large ear 13 provided with an opening 14. The ear 13 of each member is off-set with respect to that face of the body from which the flange 12 projects. That is, the face of the car 13 of each member corresponding to the face of the body from which the flange 12 projects is in a plane parallel to but removed from the plane of the said face of the body, and the other face of the ear 13 is in a like manner in a plane parallel to but removed from the plane of the other face of the body.

It will be observed that that face of the body opposite that face from which the flange 12 projects and with respectto which the ear 13 is off-set, is formed with a groove 15 terminating in notches 16 in the front and rear edgesof the body, one of these grooves being formed adjacent the end of the said body. In adapting the axle 5 and sand board 6 for the reception between them of the members of the coupling, the meeting faces of the axle and sand board are slightly recessed as at 17 as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings and one of the members illustrated in Fig. 5 is disposed with its body 11 fitting in the recess in the under side of the sand board 6 with its flange 12 projecting up in front of the sand board and the forward edge of its off-set ear 13 constituting a flange which projects up in the rear of the sand board and the other member of the couplingis in a like manner disposed with its body seatingin the recess in the upper face of the axle 5 and its flange 12, and forward edge of its said ear extending down in front and in rear, respectively, of the axle 5. With the parts thus assembled, clips indicated by the numeral 18 are engaged about the ends of the members of the coupling and the axle andsand board respectively in the manner illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4t of the drawings, these clips serving to hold'the members of the coupling in place. With the parts thus assembled, the ears 13 of two members of the coupling will be sufliciently spaced to receive between them the forward end of the reach 10 and a coupling pin 19 is inserted through the openings 14 in the said cars 13 and an opening formed vertically through the forward end of the said reach.

From the foregoing it will be readily understood that Whereas a substantial connection is had between the front axle and the reach through the medium of the coupling embodying the present invention, neither the axle nor the sand board are weakened by the passage therethrough of the bolt which couples the reach to the said" axle. A further advantage accruing from using the coupling embodying the present invention resides in the fact that should the reach become broken, it may be readily repaired Without removing the load from the Wagon and without disassembling the sand board and axle.

By referring to the drawings it will be observed that the plates are seated in the recesses formed in the under side of the sand board and the upper side of the axle and that the flanges at the forward edges of the plates rest against the sand board or axle as the case may be, the off-set ears resting against the rear sides of the axle and sand board. By this construction, the plates are positively held against shifting either laterally or forwardly or rearwardly. Furthermore, grooves in their meeting faces and with the notches, the clips for securing the plates in the recesses are in no way liable to inby forming the plates with terfere with close fitting of the sand board and axle.

WVhat is claimed is The combination of an axle and sand board, abutting each other and having opposed recesses, a pair of identically similar plates seated in said recesses and having abutting faces, each plate having a forward flange on its outer face, a rear offset perforated ear on its outer face, and transversely grooved and notched ends projecting beyond the flanges and ears, the grooves being in the abutting faces of said plates, and similar clips extending across the abutting faces of said plates and lying in the grooves and notches thereof and encircling the axle and sand board, respectively, for holding said plates in position, the rear offset perforated ears of said plates being spaced from each other to receive a reach.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

OLIVER SHEAFFERj PAUL COMPTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,

by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

